Josh Richards and Freya Bradley

PRIESTHOOD can be a form of grassroots political engagement, says a newly ordained priest.

Seventeen candidates were ordained as priests at St Mary’s Church in Upper Street last Saturday. Among them were Freya Bradley and Josh Richards – a married couple who are both currently serving at St Mary’s as curates, and now as priests.

Mr Richards never expected to find himself dedicating his life to the Church. He grew up in a Christian household, with a father who is a vicar.

“I grew up and, I suppose as you expect, thought ‘it’s very interesting what my dad does, but that’s the last thing I want to end up doing’. Partly because I was always going out to the kids’ group, so I thought all he did was welcoming people to church for five minutes, because I would then go off and do fun things with the kids’ group,” he said.

Mr Richards went on to study history and politics in university, and developed a keen interest in how his passion for politics could be brought into the Church.

Mr Richards said: “One of my old bosses used to always say, ‘move politics from a foreign affairs issue in the Church to home affairs and focus on the way it impacts people in the pews’.

“I worked as a parliamentary assistant to a bishop in the House of Lords. Some of the most effective speeches that bishops make in the Lords are when they say ‘here is what is going on in my diocese’, or ‘here is what is going on with this group’, who are, say, children affected by no recourse to public funds.”

He says that most of his role in the Church so far has been helping people to deal with the real and the existential issues in their lives. After a difficult chat, “to me, that’s where prayer becomes vital,” he says. “Prayer is the opportunity to delegate upwards to God.”

Mr Richards came to St Mary’s a year ago as an ordained deacon. This ordination allows him to offer communion and officiate at weddings.

“I’m really looking forward to both those things because at heart both of them are celebrations and celebrations of a God who loves us, who brings us into relationships with him and other people,” he said.

“To get to be near the middle of a party, whether that be communion or a wedding, is great fun. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Becoming an ordained priest is one step closer to the vicarage, and Mr Richards says he felt “very moved” to be able to do that with his wife.

“It’s unlikely that both of us will be vicars because we quite like seeing a lot of each other. I expect that she will probably be looking for a vicar role when we’re finished here, and I’ll be an assistant priest wherever she is, or maybe do some work around politics with the rest of my time.

“I’m also doing a PhD part time, so I imagine I’ll have to finish that off. Who knows what God has planned for us?”